This invention relates to electrical connector assemblies.
Multi-contact electrical connector assemblies often have a combination of filtered contacts and unfiltered contacts. The contacts are exposed at the front of the assembly and formed with plug or socket elements so that they can make electrical contact with a cooperating push-fit connector. Electrical connection is made to the rear of the assembly by means of a cable or the like having wires soldered to the rear ends of individual ones of the contacts. Those contacts that are filtered extend only a short distance from the front surface of the assembly and are terminated at their rear ends by sockets so that filters can be plugged into the sockets. The filters extend rearwardly and the wires of the cable are soldered to the filter termination so that signals to or from the contact pass through the filter. The unfiltered contacts extend from the front to the rear face of the assembly. The connector assemblies usually have an outer rectangular shell of metal and may be mounted in a rectangular aperture in an electrical equipment housing. Conventional connector assemblies are difficult to service and to modify. The filters used in conventional connector assemblies add to the depth of the overall assembly, making the unfiltered contacts very long and prone to damage, and occupying space within the equipment housing.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an alternative electrical connector assembly.
According to the present invention there is provided an electrical connector assembly including a forward assembly supporting a plurality of electrical contact elements, the forward end of the contact elements being exposed on the front of the assembly for connection to a cooperating connector and being provided with mating formations at their rear ends, the connector assembly including a rear assembly engageable with the rear of the forward assembly, the rear assembly including a plurality of electrical conductor elements, one for each of said contact elements, and the forward end of the conductor elements being arranged to mate with the mating formations at the rear of the contact elements, some conductor elements including filters and other conductor elements being unfiltered.
The mating formation at the rear end of each contact element is preferably a socket. The forward assembly preferably has an outer metal housing and the contact elements may be supported in an insulative block within the housing of the forward assembly, the block preferably being inserted from the rear of the housing. The forward assembly may include a metal frame clamping the block with the housing. The forward and rear assemblies may be secured together by threaded members. The rear end of the conductor elements is preferably adapted to make a push-fit connection with cooperating contacts on a plate connected at an end of a cable. The forward assembly may have a flange towards its forward end arranged to abut a forward surface of a planar member. The forward assembly may have a coding formation adapted to restrict mating with the assembly to connectors with a cooperating coding formation.
A connector assembly according to the present invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings.